Watch this video of Mount Juliet, TN police officer Bill Cosby choking a marijuana suspect into unconsciousness during a traffic stop.

Officer Cosby apparently believed the suspect was trying to swallow marijuana, however nothing was found in his mouth and he subsequently passed a drug test, proving that he didn’t eat it. He just never had marijuana in his mouth. The video is so disturbing, a local judge refused to hear future cases brought by Cosby and the police chief had no choice but to fire him.

So you’d think that gratuitous police violence against a non-violent marijuana suspect would find no apologists. You’d hope that other officers would be universally disgusted by Officer Cosby’s deplorable example and support his dismissal. And you’d be wrong. I reviewed a comment thread on the case at PoliceOne.com and found that many officers believe choking non-violent marijuana suspects is necessary and even commendable:

The charges for the suspect should be reinstated and the officer should be commended for doing his job in a professional manner.
...
This is ridiculous. The officer did nothing wrong and a judge, prosecutor and chief are looking to hang him. It's no wonder we're losing cops by the dozens. Who wants to put their butt on the line when no one appreciates the job you do.
...
After viewing the video, the officer is not out of control or doing anything that isn't called for.

These comments imply that you could somehow die from eating marijuana:

The officer probably didn't want the guy to die over something as stupid as swallowing some dope.
...
Another Police Officer abandoned by his department because of fear of legal action from a criminal. Of course had he swallowed it and then died the family would have sued because the Police didnt choke it out of him.
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I hope the Officer is cleared and gets a job at a real department. Also let the bad guys swallow the dope. With luck he will croak and save court costs.

This one admits that the choking appears malicious…then wishes the officer well.

That appears to be choking. The fact that it was called a vascular restraint makes it appear as "creative report writing." I pray for Cosby that he makes it through this experience.

This one recommends turning off your camera:

It has become an awareness to me that these dashcams are causing good cops to get into trouble or fired, so boys turn the damn things off.

This one endorses choking and stomping suspects, as long as they're out of the camera frame:

Hey brother...choke the asshole out if you are so inclined...stand on his trachea if you want...but how about bringing him to the back of your RMP [squad car]? Could you actually think that was something to get on film? Did you forget about the camera?

All of this really speaks for itself. To be fair, some comments were more reasonable, but the overall tone was that the officer shouldn’t have been disciplined. That is what real police officers believe, up to and including some of the violent and scary sentiments outlined above.

It is really just remarkable to imagine that those who would jettison any accountability for their own violent actions remain steadfast in their insistence that people who use marijuana for fun are dangerous thugs who deserve no mercy. That is the gaping chasm that often separates law enforcement’s self-imposed moral standards from those they apply to everyone else. It is a perfectly horrifying thing to behold, more so when one realizes that no effort was even made to conceal these vile sentiments from the public they serve.

Update: Chokings, mistakes, and misconduct aside, the fact that people commonly panic and eat their stash at the sight of police is troubling, isn't it? This needs to stop and I might be the only person who's taken this issue on, by writing Why You Shouldn't Try to Eat Your Marijuana If You're Pulled Over. Unfortunately, more dangerous drugs carry harsher sentences and a greater incentive for desperate people to risk an overdose rather than face prison time. Police use this as an excuse to choke us, but it's actually an exhibit in the absurdity of our drug policy.

In the first coffee shop bust since the Dutch imposed a ban on tobacco smoking in public places earlier this year, an unnamed 27-year-old Amsterdam man has been issued a fine for smoking a marijuan

See!? There really is accountability in the war on drugs. All you have to do is get video of a cop nearly killing a guy over a petty misdemeanor. Seriously though, as rare as this is, it does send an important message that there can be consequences for police who use excessive force against peaceful suspects:

MT. JULIET, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee police officer has pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault charges after he was caught on video using a chokehold on a man suspected of hiding marijuana in his mouth.

An attorney for Cpl. William Cosby says he pleaded not guilty Thursday.

A lawyer for the city of Mt. Juliet, about 20 miles east of Nashville, says Cosby has been fired.

Cosby's attorney, Chuck Ward, says the decision to fire Cosby shows the city believes him to be "guilty until proven innocent."

Video from a city police car shows Cosby using a chokehold on 26-year-old James Lawrence Anders Jr. during an April traffic stop. The video then shows Anders passing out.

Charges including marijuana possession were later dropped. Anders is suing over the incident.

The story went out on AP and was covered in several news outlets. One thing that remains unclear to me is whether the suspect ever even had any marijuana. If anyone can locate additional coverage or the actual video, please send it to me.

                                                                                                                                                                           [Thanks, Nate]

Update: That was fast. You can watch the video here. There was no marijuana in the suspect's mouth and he tested negative for marijuana use. Thanks, Zane. 

The battle over a Massachusetts initiative that would decriminalize marijuana possession is heating up.

We already know marijuana prohibition is a fraud, so it should come as no surprise that the people fighting to protect prohibition cannot be trusted to obey the law themselves.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy’s campaign to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts has driven drug-thirsty prosecutors over the edge, prompting blatant lawbreaking by the exact people sworn to uphold the state’s laws (via MPP email):

*  Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to solicit, receive, or spend funds to support or oppose a ballot initiative without first forming a political committee. CSMP has from its inception followed all of these rules, but the district attorneys solicited, received, and spent donations before they were legally allowed to -- blatantly ignoring state law in a cynical attempt to conceal their campaign activity for as long as they could, undermining the very laws they have sworn to uphold.

*  Additionally, the district attorneys used public funds to post and house a statement urging voters to reject the decriminalization initiative on its Web site ... clear, indisputable violation of Massachusetts election law, which prohibits public officials from using public resources to advocate for or against a ballot initiative.

*  What's more, this illegal statement -- itself an abuse of public office and taxpayer resources -- is riddled with bald-faced lies ... like the claim that the initiative would permit any person to carry and use marijuana at any time. In reality, the measure simply changes the type of penalty for possession of less than an ounce and specifically reiterates that public use remains illegal.

Unsurprisingly, lying and cheating have become the last resort of the desperate drug war faithful. They have no legitimate arguments and the polls show them losing badly, so you can bet they’ll try anything.

One could never overstate the extent to which these hardened drug war prosecutors believe the law is theirs to toy with. It is their precious little plaything, a personal possession to be molded and manipulated until it fits just right. That very same mentality also explains why they love marijuana laws, which can be cast casually aside or brought crashing down with righteous ferocity.

Indeed, the very notion of a democratically-enforced public morality that trumps prosecutorial discretion is an affront to their world. That’s why they’d sooner break campaign laws that serve the public interest than risk the reform of marijuana laws that serve no interests but their own.

Fayetteville, Arkansas, will be the latest locality to vote on an initiative that would make adult marijuana poss

Eddy Lepp, a medical and religious use of marijuana advocate named High Times "20

An Irish judge last Friday threw out drugged driving charges against a young driver, saying tha

A municipal initiative that would add Fayetteville, Arkansas, to the growing list of cities and counties that have adopted lowest law enforcement priority initiatives for adult marijuana possession

New England Patriots running back Kevin Faulk was suspended for one week and fined two weekly paychecks, or about $300,00

Democratic Party presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has famously confessed to teenage drug use in his published memoirs. Now, with Republican presidential candidate Sen.

In a daring undercover investigation, anti-marijuana activist Lisa Silverman has exposed the seedy criminal underworld that lurks along the lawn at a Ziggy Marley show:

In August, Silverman attended a Ziggy Marley concert at the Del Mar Racetrack, just as she had the previous year, to see if pot smokers were as abundant as before. Sure enough, bongs, blunts and joints were ablaze.

Not only were the pot-puffing reggae fans not intimidated by security guards, they offered some to anti-marijuana crusader Silverman, 49. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Actually, when the pot-smokers said "You want something, lady?" they weren’t really offering her a hit, they just wanted to know why she was crawling around on all fours sniffing people’s belongings and blowing out their matches.

"There were very few attendees who were not smoking marijuana," Silverman said, recounting her reconnaissance mission recently to a stunned board of directors for the fairgrounds.

The board of directors was indeed stunned by Silverman’s story, given that they’d posted signs at every entrance reminding security not to let the notorious complainer and buzzkill, Lisa Silverman, into any more reggae concerts.

At a recent concert at the Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, hip-hop superstar Snoop Dogg concluded his set by urging listeners to "smoke some chronic," slang for high-grade marijuana.

"Almost immediately, you could see the plumes of smoke go up," Kelly said.

San Diego songwriter Steve Poltz said he remembers attending an outdoor concert featuring James Taylor when the mellow superstar caught a whiff of marijuana smoke.

"Ah, yes," Taylor mused. "The fine scent of herb being carried on the evening zephyr."

At which point someone shouted "Dork!" and Taylor was struck with a flying beer can, proving yet again why people shouldn’t be allowed to use marijuana in public.

Australia's 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, in which more than 23,000 people ov

Via DrugWarRant, here’s another typical case of police wildly exaggerating the value of a marijuana seizure:

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - North Charleston police have scored a major pot bust, seizing 500 pounds of marijuana with a street value of more than $2 million.
…

Police said there was so much marijuana they couldn't let reporters see it because the smell would overpower them. They instead showed pictures of the haul.

Charleston Police earn bonus points here for claiming the pot’s odor would "overpower" reporters, even though no one in the history of the world has ever gotten a buzz from standing near some marijuana.

Moreover, photographs reveal the pot to be ugly, brown and stemmy. It was shipped from Arizona, indicating that it is exactly the sort of ubiquitous Mexican commercial garbage that its appearance suggests. I doubt it’s worth even half of the $2 million pricetag proposed by police.

Again and again, we find law-enforcement recklessly exaggerating marijuana prices to the point of absurdity. In fairness, prices shift dramatically depending on quality, but it is precisely because police often lack the subtle ability to judge marijuana quality that they so often issue such laughable claims.

As I’ve explained before, exaggerating the value of marijuana encourages people to grow and sell marijuana.

A Massachusetts initiative that would decriminalize marijuana possession looks set to win in November, if polling numbers from this month are any indication.